The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-05-12
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"A dictionary is made, or supposed TO
.,be made, for the purpose Of defining
{ words; yet sometime it cannot help u.s..
some ideas are too simple to be simpli-
Fed; some aso ] too complex Sometimes
va cannot understand the name because
ne have no quaintance, with the thing
represented. The last mentioned condi'
ton Is most often the cause Of the mis-
conception OF the word scholar. To the
entirely ignorant itsmeans man that
q can read and write; to the somewhat
better informed, it means the teacher
who has charge Of the village school; to
most persons, it means man who, Dy
some accident or misnomer, has been
dubbed profssso while TO those privi-i
legged persons who Shaye been brought
into cdatacS with q really great scholar,
sthiss name isE indicative Of greatness of
aim, loftiness Of sonl and martyr-like
devotion 4 to the truth. The scholar is q
peculiar species Of the genus hono, which
il especially 70 be met with in Europe
Seems l6 flourish with most abundance in
Germany, butsHhich is rarely found in
America. $ &
6 The conditions ofs our life are not
!. favorable to the devslopm Of the true
scholar, There is but little premium
put at on truly scholarly work. A great
pressure is brought to bear on The pro.
/ iessors, oven in our best institutions, to
drive them to that which is popular.
AA the intellectual pabulum callo dfor is
in the shape Of highly seasoned articles
that tickle rather than Iourish: To
attain high educational culture by near
scnh, Americans have spent an amount
of Ingenuity altogether sufficient to have
reached the desired goal by the one slow.
and proper method. Constantly nav
methods Of study are developed and in.
7corporated in some book. German
TSdght by Letter Perfsctly,n French
Mastered IN Ten Lessons" " ''Six Weeks
Preparation for Cesar are some of our
. intellectual nostrums. Normal colleges
and;Summer schools are also both capa-
bleo sinjaring the cause of true educa'
! tion beyond MEASURE The normal idea
is q good one. Pedagogics should be-
represented in every university, and
every; teacher ought to know something
Sof the history and science Of teaching;
but whenever this comes to be the pre-.
dominant feature, whenever method is
substituted for knowledge, most terrible
damsge il wrought. Give me the man
ifrstofsall who knows what he processes
Is tsacb, aida method will certainly be
found. Pent up waters, if they are liv-
ing, will surely find some outlet. Sum-
mer schools may be the occasion Of much
geod. To see the laity in great numbers
spending their vacation at some quiet
mountain or lakeside retreat, where the
mind may reap pleasure and profit as
we'll as the body, is gladdening sight,
and indicates growing, wholesome, in
tellectual appetite; but when we must
look 10 the Summer schools to furnish
teachers of even rudimentary instruction
in.he orainsrys branches, tits p sad com;
mentary on our scholarship. How Grim
natIy deficient are our schools and teach
ersl But We are wandering; to return
to our mutton.
Asgreat scholar may be known by two
testsi First, he is man of thorough
information. He knows his own depart.
msnt veil, its history and its present
status, the lines along which develop.
ment has proceeded and the work still to
be accomplished. The acquisition Of
actual knowledge is by many given a
place altogether too subordinate. We
often excuse the paucity of facts in our
heads by the multitude of books on our
shelves. To. the teacher, however, the
mastery of the subject he teaches is Of
prime importance. Instruction must be
given, not from text books, but from the
heart and mind of the instructor. Truth
must be ever dispensed not from aprint'
ed page held in the hand, but from 8
burning soul, as part and parcel of its
!: own being. In the second place, a great
scholar is an investigator. He uses biz